U.S. to release Keystone pipeline review soon- State Dept official

WASHINGTON Jan 30 (Reuters) - An environmental impact
review of the Keystone XL oil pipeline with Canada is close to
being completed and will be released soon, a senior U.S. State
Department official said on Thursday.

"The EIS is in the final stages of preparation and we
anticipate a release of the document soon," the official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

The comments give the first insight into where the
assessment stands. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry offered no
timetable for the U.S. decision on TransCanada Corp's
planned Keystone XL pipeline when he addressed the issue on Jan.
17 during a joint news conference with his Canadian counterpart
John Baird.

Earlier Baird, Canada's foreign minister, had bluntly told
the United States to end the "limbo' on the approval process for
the pipeline, conceding that Washington might veto the project.

The State Department official said the release of the
controversial final environmental statement for the pipeline was
"not a decision but another step in the process prescribed by
the executive order."